Fort Hays State women's basketball opens 2015 at home with a ranked opponent, hosting No. 22 Missouri Southern on Saturday (Jan. 3) at Gross Memorial Coliseum in Hays. Tipoff is set for 2 p.m. The teams enter the game near the top of the MIAA standings, with FHSU (10-1 overall) tied for first at 3-0 in conference play, and MSSU sitting fifth at 2-1 in the league and 8-2 overall.
 
The teams split their two meetings last year, as MSSU won in Joplin, Mo., before FHSU claimed a quarterfinal win over MSSU in the MIAA Tournament.  The Tigers, though, have won four of the last five matchups and will look for their second win over a ranked opponent this season.  Earlier in the year, FHSU knocked off then-No. 21 Central Missouri in overtime, 76-75, in Hays after dropping their second game of the season to then-No. 10 Concordia-St. Paul, 70-68.  Since the arrival of Tony Hobson, FHSU is 7-26 against ranked opponents.  On their home court, however, the Tigers have been strong against Top 25 teams, going 14-17 all-time at Gross Memorial Coliseum.
 
FHSU won nine straight to close out 2014, and hope to push its winning streak to double-digits against the Lions. Since the program's inception, 10 wins is tied for the third longest winning streak (achieved six times since the 1974-75 season). The two streaks that have last longer than 10 both occurred during FHSU's NAIA National Championship run in 1990-91, as the Tigers had streaks of 20 and 14 consecutive wins.
 
Missouri Southern has dropped two straight contests, falling in a non-conference matchup to Truman (67-64) and a conference game with No. 1 Emporia State (75-53) the week before the holiday break.  Nationally, the Lions are second in the NCAA Division I rankings in scoring defense (allowing just 49.0 points per game) and scoring margin (outscoring opponents by 28.6 points on average).  Individually, Sharese Jones leads the Lions with 14.3 points and 6.9 rebounds per game, while Nicole Hartzog has added 11.9 points and 2.1 assists on average.
 
Kate Lehman continues to lead the Tigers in scoring and rebounding, with averages of 21.5 and 20.2, respectively.  Additionally, the senior has 51 blocks on the year (4.63 per game) and is in the Top 5 of the NCAA Division II career blocks record list.  Chelsea Mason (13.5 points per game) and Jill Faxon (10.3 points per game) are averaging double-digits as well, anchoring the Tigers from beyond the three-point arc.  Mason has hit 27 long-range shots on the year while Jill Faxon is shooting a team-high 47.1 percent (16-of-34).  Beth Bohuslavsky is third in the nation (and second in the MIAA) with an assist-to-turnover ratio of 3.36, dishing out 4.2 assists per game with just 14 turnovers all season.